Stavanger becomes one of two Capitals of Culture for 2008 as a non-EU counterpart to Liverpool. The Norwegian city’s year-long programme, which opened on 12 January, focuses on four major residencies with Muziektheater Transparant, Inbal Pinto Dance Company, Oskarus Korsunovas Theatre from Vilnius and Handspring Puppet Theater.
Events include a Messaien festival, a timber-based architecture exhibition and a production by DansDesign in an amphitheatre of snow 600m up in the mountains. Artistic links with the UK include ‘High Hopes’, a co-production between First Take and Sydvest Films, commissioned by the Liverpool Culture Company to follow the lives of 10 teenagers approaching adulthood and provide a lasting record of what it’s like to be growing up in Liverpool and Stavanger. Scottish artist Duncan Robertson (pictured), is involved in a residency as part of the Northern Sea project, a year-long collaboration between Stavanger and the North East coast of Scotland and England.
Published: 14-01-2008